Traditional banking alternative to avoid charges?

runswithascript

My student account is due to expire and this will come with fees. My education has been extended beyond the original 4 years and I could make a case to my bank again to extend the term of my student account but this took considerable effort the last time.

I have modest savings in my bank and my credit union, and I am learning more about bitcoin and the Celcius Network and I have been considering these alternatives for my savings, so it has occurred to me perhaps there is an alternative for my day to day banking that I could use to avoid fees?

From memory at least one traditional bank here offers few or no charges if you have an income of several thousand per month but although I have an income, as a student it is very modest.

Revolut comes to mind as an option but I heard before that it is not insured by the ECB so risky, although if the account is used for just day to day expenses and paying bills with any savings stored elsewhere that would be a very limited risk. I also heard that there is a service similar to Revolut that is insured but I do not know what it is called. I do have a current account with my credit union and they do offer a Visa Debit card which is something I will need.

What is the best option?

JTMan

runswithascript wrote: »

perhaps there is an alternative for my day to day banking that I could use to avoid fees?

5 options for free banking.

Options include:
- EBS - Free Euro banking but no mobile payments, no app and not great online banking.
- KBC - Free Euro banking if you deposit at least 2k per month. This can be via several payments.
- Revolut - Free Euro banking provided you do not do a lot of ATM withdrawals. Also, free/low cost non-euro transactions.
- N26 - Free Euro banking provided you do not do a lot of ATM withdrawals. Also, free/low cost non-euro transactions.
- Monese - Free Euro banking provided you do not do a lot of ATM withdrawals. Also, free/low cost non-euro transactions.

Another option is to combo EBS with Revolut/N26/Monese.

runswithascript

Thank you both for the informative replies.

I tried to put a SEPA transfer through over the weekend with a reference longer than 25 characters and BOI's Online 365 would not allow this so I set up Revolut and N26.

Revolut swiftly rejected my several attempts to verify with my driver's licence and Gov ID Friday evening, and I tried with my passport yesterday morning but this time it is just stuck on verifiying since - is it normal to take this long? I could not find a way to contact them on their website.

I am loving N26 though and I have learned that unlike Revolut it is insured up to €100,000, there is no charge for your card, less fees, and they still have a referral programme:

N26 Vs Revolut – A Comparison

I had thought N26 might mean I could close my BOI account but I have been looking for reasons not to do this, and I read what you mentioned about a DE IBAN.
I would still like to have Revolut just because of how popular it is for sending and receiving payments but I have just learned they use a GB IBAN also.

Can you please confirm the issue with just using one of these services for primary banking is that an Irish IBAN is required for some employers, and should be expected for anything official like tax rebates, grants, social welfare etc?

You have both mentioned EBS which is free and I will definitely be checking it out, though I will check if I were to use the credit account that came with my Capital Credit Union savings account would that be fee free as it may save me the trouble.

TempAc

runswithascript wrote: »

Can you please confirm the issue with just using one of these services for primary banking is that an Irish IBAN is required for some employers, and should be expected for anything official like tax rebates, grants, social welfare etc?

Discriminating based on IBAN is not legal, if you present a valid Eurozone IBAN your employer is legally required to accept it under PSD2. Generally they say they can't use it because they don't know they can use it, it's just a internal training deficit. I've used mine in both hospitality and financial services industries over the last few years and and no one has blinked an eye.

Only time I've ever received considerable push back was asking my credit union to transfer money, once I told them I wanted them to tell me in writing they couldn't do it they suddenly were able to.

runswithascript

@Mod if you read this before the PM I sent to Mr. S please change the thread title to: Traditional banking alternative to avoid charges & increase interest?

Great advice here, thank you for it. I am in the process of moving my day to day banking to my N26 but I want to check if there is any issue with the IBAN any where I may need it before I switch everything.

One issue that has come to mind is what if I need to provide a bank statement for something but I have read they do issue some form of digital statement.

While I am doing this I am also looking at my options regarding savings. I am going to start making steady and modest monthly cryptocurrency investments using the dollar cost averaging strategy, storing that for the high interest in the Celcius network, and I would invest in stocks in the future but I will also keep three months of living expenses and perhaps some extra saved in euros.

Right now my savings are deposited in Bank of Ireland and Capital Credit Union, but perhaps there a better option for higher interest but where I will still have ready access to my funds should I need them. Someone mentioned Bitwala to me but that seems to just offer 4.5% on crypto.